Cuts could puncture Boris’s dream

The Mayor of London wants to protect plans for a cycling network from cuts

ANDREW WINNING/REUTERS

Michael Savage

Wednesday June 12 2013, 1.01am, The Times

Boris Johnson is to confront George Osborne over a cost-cutting plan that risks imperilling his plan for a new cycling network across London.

The mayor and his team are engaged in a desperate battle to fend off the “insanity” of cutting as much as £270 million from the city’s transport budget.

Mr Johnson has already held one meeting with the Chancellor this week over the cut, which would form part of spending plans for 2015-16. The pair will meet once more before a deal is announced later this month.

It has become a show of strength between two senior Tories seen as frontrunners to take over from David Cameron as party leader. The battle also risks holding up attempts by the Chancellor to nail down